JOUNI PUNKKI
In my daily work I’m a professor of concrete technology at Aalto University in Finland. I’m also CEO/founder of the consulting company Betoniviidakko Oy. I have purely technical education, two doctoral degrees in engineering. However, I’ve been sculpting for almost 20 years and for obvious reasons, I use mainly concrete in my works.
Because of my background I approach sculpting more from technical side. I know very well the various possibilities of concrete as material, and the same time I also know its limitations. In fact, concrete is very versatile material for sculpting, you can cast it in different shapes, you can use different colours and you can treat concrete surfaces in various ways and methods. Artistically I’m aiming at simple and smooth shapes and concrete gives excellent possibilities for that. I like simplified shapes, some of my works are close to abstract. I want to give freedom to audience to see different things in my works.
Lately I have developed my sculpting process. I start with digital methods (before casting) and after that continue using very traditional methods. My modelling is done digitally or I combine traditional clay sculpting and digital sculpting. Also the moulds are designed utilizing digital technologies and finally 3D-printed. After that starts the traditional phase. I cast concrete utilizing the knowledge I have about concrete as material. After demoulding I finalize the surface of the work with help of hand grinding and polishing. My works differs from most people think about concrete and that is also my target. Occasionally I use also other materials for sculpting such as bronze, aluminium and wood.
